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Irvine Agenda 
The Irvine Agenda was combined with the Irvine Declaration to make up the Irvine Action Framework.
The Irvine Action Framework International Conference on Water Scarcity, Global Changes and Groundwater Resources Management Responses University of California, Irvine, California, USA, 1-5 December 2008
Executive Summary Co-organized by UNESCO-IHP and UCIrvine, with the support of the US National Committee for the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) in coordination with a large number of partners and sponsors, the Conference was attended by more than 300 participants from 53 countries representing different regions of the world. By exploring how to face water scarcity and global changes for an adequate supply of water for all uses, the Conference aimed at providing a contribution to the implementation of the 7 th phase of the UNESCO-IHP programme (2008-2013), and beyond. Water resources are threatened by global changes, both anthropogenic and natural, which have lead to increased water contamination, shortages and scarcity. These threats are made worse by ineffective management, in terms of governance (institutions, laws, policies, administration) and economy, although scientific and technical knowledge and expertise often do exist. The Conference considered that responding to these threats requires a multi-disciplinary approach, where education and communication play a critical role. More particularly, t he Conference recognized that groundwater resources if properly managed could provide valuable responses. Also, the large storage capacity of groundwater resources, many of which are transboundary, could play a crucial role in supporting adaptation measures for coping with impacts from climate variability, hydrological extremes and natural disasters. Considering that groundwater makes up 97 percent of the world’s accessible freshwater reserves and provides the main source of drinking water and irrigation, the Conference underlined that its role, significance and vulnerability were not always perceived and understood sufficiently by policy-makers, water managers and users. We the participants of the Irvine Conference representing academic institutions, governmental and non-governmental agencies, professional associations and users communities, have produced the Irvine Action Framework, building on the Malaga-Marrakech and Alicante Declarations (2006) and the Kampala and Thessaloniki Statements (2008), which calls for a more strategic approach to water management and recognizes that: - The decision-making process must consider scientific (hydrologic and non-hydrologic), socio-economic, political, and cultural components, in a broader view of the “water balance”, to achieve sustainable water-energy-food management practices, adapted to human and social needs; - The appropriate political level of decision-making, local, regional, national or international must be identified for action at the level of watersheds and aquifer systems, considering the existing and the required institutional and administrative structures. - Governmental, international and non-governmental institutions, and donors must look for a common platform for addressing water resources issues in holistic terms. While the notion of good water governance remains elusive, notions of ethical use, cultural diversity, transparency, equity, accountability, all come into play, to achieve sustainability. - The science of groundwater hydrology and its practical applications can provide a valuable contribution. This would include formulating science-based policies and principles, preparing appropriate regulations to curb over-exploitation, and contamination, developing tools that would help to monitor groundwater and replenish overdrawn systems. Closer attention should be paid to transboundary aquifers, non-renewable groundwater resources, enhancement of aquifer recharge, and adaptation measures to climate variability, groundwater-dependent ecosystems and urban groundwater management. An Implementation Process, with a strong educational component, is necessary within a limited time frame (not more than ten years) to assist local regions and sub-regions in improving Ground Water Management.
The Irvine Action Framework, Principles and Actions
In this strategic context, the Irvine Action Framework recognizes eight principles for effective water management and recommends actions to advance these principles, with an emphasis on the role of groundwater management.
1) Principles 1.1 Recognize that groundwater, surface water, atmospheric water and the biosphere are part of an interconnected and interdependent system such that processes, forces and actions affecting any part can affect the other parts. 1.2 Recognize that water management, land use, energy development, and food production strategies must be integrated to reduce the water, energy and carbon footprints associated with human activities and avoid unintended consequences and inefficiencies. 1.3 Take into account that the hydrological cycle does not follow political boundaries, when defining appropriate allocations and sustainable uses. 1.4 Understand that maintaining and restoring water balance at all spatial and temporal scales is a necessary part of water management planning in order to minimize or mitigatewater mining and water shortages. 1.5 Recognize that water-monitoring and data storage and processing tools are essential in the development of assessment and predictive methodologies, water-management strategies, and evaluation methods, particularly under changing socio-economic, health, environmental and climatic conditions; 1.6 Recognize that international cooperation is essential for providing all countries access to scientific, engineering and applied technological expertise; 1.7 Recognize that local institutions provide essential information and the cultural context that are needed to achieve efficient and effective integrated sustainablewater management; 1.8 Recognize that citizens, young and old, are the key to political and social change and must be encouraged to learn about the role that water plays in their well-being and the importance of its responsible use.
2) Recommendations for actions 2.1 Adapting to the impacts of global changes on river basins and aquifer systems - Develop quantitative tools thathelp evaluatehow global change can affectwater resources and their uses (e.g. ecosystems support; energy or food production; among others), and water availability; - Develop and coordinate water monitoring and data processing tools for understanding the hydrological cycle and how it may be affected by and adapted to global change ; - Propose, design and implement integrated surface- and ground-watermonitoring programs that will provide a sound database for local, regional, national and international decision-making, and help monitor trends and adapt to change; - Assess how low permeability aquifers/aquicludes and saline-water aquifers can be used when traditional water supplies are exhausted; - Improve the understanding of water-energy systems interactions 2.2 Strengthening water governance for sustainability - Identify the institutional and legal changes in mission, organization and funding, that are needed to implement integrated water resources management and strengthen partnerships at all levels of decision-making (local, regional, national, and international); - Consider the development of an adequate legal framework, at national level, to define the role, responsibilities and accountabilities of, respectively, the public authority, the private sector and the users in sustainable water management; - Institute and regulate demand management mechanisms, including the user-pays and polluter-pays principles, and evaluate the consequences of full cost pricing on demand, water providers and equity of access for consumers; - Improve the coordination between water management (integrating surface and ground waters management programs), land use and sustainable energy management; - Improve and develop the virtual water trade analysis (water footprint including not only water volumes but also economic values) and assess the relevant role that groundwater may play in order to achieve the new paradigm “more cash and nature per drop”; - Encourage countries to adhere to the principles enshrined in the United Nations draft Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses (1997), and in the UN General Assembly Resolution on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers (11 December 2008), to strengthen governance of transboundary water resources. 2.3 Ecohydrology for sustainability - Develop the carbon footprint of wastewater treatments; - Improve early detection of drinking water contaminants; - Develop tools and programs to assess the integratedscientific and cultural dimensions of ground-water dependent ecosystems. 2.4 Water and life support systems - Promote appropriate and cost-effective technologies to support livelihoods and minimize environmental degradation and stresses on human health, through scientific and technological cooperation, identifying and using local existing expertise; - Develop source control, protection strategies,and simple water treatment and disinfection systems for small towns and villages; - Develop simple wastewater treatments for aquifer recharge; - Improve technologies for aquifer storage and recovery; in particular, develop Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) and its application in recycling rainwater, storm water and treated wastewater to supply water for appropriate uses dependent on the required quality. 2.5 Communication, education and capacity development - Use conferences and technical meetings more effectively, developing “thematic threads” linking one event to another with the goal of preventing duplication and overlapping; - Foster place-based conferences linking the needs of communities with the expertise to solve these needs; - Develop communication methods, documented by case studies, for a better integration of governance, management, science and technology; - Provide training to scientists, engineers, and water managers in general, to better address policy-makers and non-specialists, including how to engage the press; - Educate users, especially children, about water and its responsible use, the hydrological cycle and the specificities of groundwater; - Provide training to policy-makers, water managers, lawyers and other water management professionals in transboundary water issues, including their historic and cultural dimensions. - Improve the knowledge (of scientists, policy-makers, managers and the public) of groundwater in all its aspects, including those critical for surface water flows and ground-water dependent ecosystems.
The Irvine Action Framework, Call for Implementation The conveners, participants and sponsors of the Conference commit themselves to disseminate the Irvine Action Framework and to seek and mobilize support and funding for its practical implementation. It is proposed that UNESCO-IHP create a coordinating group of experts, who could be chosen among the members of the Irvine Action Framework drafting committee, to:
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